Part 1

Chapter 13,763 wordsPublic domain

How to Visit the English Cathedrals

BOOKS BY MISS SINGLETON

TURRETS, TOWERS, AND TEMPLES. Great Buildings of the World Described by Great Writers.

GREAT PICTURES. Described by Great Writers.

WONDERS OF NATURE. Described by Great Writers.

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HISTORIC BUILDINGS OF AMERICA. Described by Great Writers.

HISTORIC LANDMARKS OF AMERICA. Described by Great Writers.

GREAT RIVERS OF THE WORLD. Described by Great Writers.

FAMOUS CATHEDRALS. Described by Great Writers.

FAMOUS SCULPTURE. Described by Great Writers.

MODERN PAINTINGS. Described by Great Writers.

WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Described by Great Writers.

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LOVE IN LITERATURE AND ART.

THE GOLDEN ROD FAIRY BOOK.

THE WILD FLOWER FAIRY BOOK.

A GUIDE TO THE OPERA.

A GUIDE TO MODERN OPERA.

DUTCH NEW YORK. Manners and Customs of New Amsterdam in the Seventeenth Century.

HOW TO VISIT THE GREAT PICTURE GALLERIES.

HOW TO VISIT THE ENGLISH CATHEDRALS.

How to Visit The English Cathedrals

By Esther Singleton Member of the Royal Society of Arts

_With Numerous Illustrations_

New York Dodd, Mead and Company 1912

PREFACE

This little book is offered to the tourist in the most modest spirit and with the hope that in this convenient form some gleanings from the works of specialists may afford help and pleasure to those who run quickly through the Cathedral towns of England. The subject has been done so often and so well that an additional book would demand an apology if it pretended to compete with the labours of those who have spent long years in the study of special cathedrals, or with the charming recollections of travel that others have given the world from time to time.

My plan has been merely to present in a single volume concise descriptions of the great ecclesiastical buildings of England, together with the story of their construction and historical associations supplemented with criticisms from the best authorities of their most striking architectural and artistic features. These authorities are duly acknowledged by initials.--E. S.

NEW YORK, _March, 1912_.

STYLES OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE

The cathedral usually grew architecturally from age to age, or rose like a phœnix from the ashes of an earlier building.

“Not only is there built into a mediæval cathedral the accumulated thought of all the men who had occupied themselves with building during the preceding centuries, but you have the dream and aspiration of the bishop, abbot, or clergy for whom it was designed; the master mason’s skilled construction; the work of the carver, the painter, the glazier, the host of men who, each in his own craft, knew all that had been done before them, and had spent their lives in struggling to surpass the works of their forefathers. It is more than this: there is not one shaft, one moulding, one carving, not one chisel-mark in such a building, that was not designed specially for the place where it is found, and which was not the best that the experience of the age could invent for the purpose to which it is applied; nothing was borrowed; and nothing that was designed for one purpose was used for another. A thought or a motive peeps out through every joint; you may wander in such a building for weeks or for months together, and never know it all.”--(Fergusson.)

Most English cathedrals are built in the form of a Latin cross, the arms of which are called the transepts. Over their point of intersection the central tower is usually erected. The part of the church running westward from this point to the entrance door is the nave and that running eastward to the high altar is the choir.

Behind, or east of the choir, is situated the Lady-Chapel, or Chapel of the Virgin, which sometimes contained additional altars to other saints. Along the aisles we frequently find side chapels, containing tombs and chantries of dignitaries, local saints and benefactors.

The nave usually consists of the main arcade; the _triforium_ (which opens into a passage or gallery); and the _clerestory_.

The _triforium_ is the arcaded story between the lower range of piers and arches and the clerestory. The name is supposed to be derived from _tres_ and _fores_--three doors or openings, for such is often the number of arches in each bay. Professor Willis, however, believed that the word is traced to a monkish Latin word for thoroughfare.

_Clerestory_, or _clearstory_, is the upper story of the nave of the church above the aisles and pierced with windows. The windows of the clerestories of Norman work are less important than in the later styles. They become larger in the Early English period and more important in the Decorated, always lengthening as the _triforium_ diminishes.

Sometimes the choir occupies two bays of the nave, but usually begins with the screen placed on the east side of the central tower. In olden days this was the rood-screen, so called because a large crucifix, or rood, stood on it. All roods were destroyed during the Reformation. At the present time the organ is frequently placed here; and there is diversity of opinion about the artistic propriety of its position.

Entering the choir we see the high altar often with a reredos (French _l’arrière dos_, i.e., embroidered hangings). Along the sides of the choir are the seats, or stalls, usually of carved oak, surmounted with tracery, arches and pinnacles. Among these is the bishop’s seat, or throne. Frequently the stalls exhibit beautiful tabernacle-work and the misereres (_miséricorde_), which turn up and afford support to a person in a position between sitting and standing, are generally carved with grotesque and quaint figures and caricatures. Vestries for the use of priests and choristers are often situated near the choir.

At the back of the choir (the retro-choir) was placed the chief shrine, where relics of the great saint of the cathedral were kept and to which the streams of pilgrims passed. In many churches the steps and pavements are worn away. Near the shrine was a watching-chamber, where a monk guarded the shrine and its treasures.

Further east the Lady-Chapel was situated, though in a few cases it is found on the north side, e. g. Bristol and Ely.

“In Italy the bones of a saint or martyr were almost invariably deposited either beneath or immediately in front of the altar. But in the Gothic nations this original notion of the burial-place of the Saints became obscured, in the increasing desire to give them a more honourable place. According to the precise system of orientation adopted by the German and Celtic nations, the eastern portion of the church was in those countries regarded as pre-eminently sacred. Thither the high altar was generally moved, and to it the eyes of the congregation were specially directed. And in the eagerness to give a higher and holier even than the highest and holiest place to any great saint, on whom popular devotion was fastened, there sprang up in most of the larger churches during the Thirteenth Century a fashion of throwing out a still further eastern end, in which the shrine or altar of the saint might be erected,--and to which, therefore, not merely the gaze of the whole congregation, but of the officiating priest himself, even as he stood before the high altar, might be constantly turned. Thus, according to Fuller’s quaint remark, the superstitious reverence for the dead reached its highest pitch, ‘the porch saying to the churchyard, the church to the porch, the chancel to the church, the east end to all--“Stand further off, I am holier than thou.”’ This notion happened to coincide in point of time with the burst of devotion towards the Virgin Mary, which took place under the Pontificate of Innocent III., during the first years of the Thirteenth Century; and, therefore, in all cases where there was no special local saint, this eastern end was dedicated to Our Lady and the chapel thus formed was called The Lady-Chapel. Such was the case in the Cathedrals of Salisbury, Norwich, Hereford, Wells, Gloucester and Chester. But when the popular feeling of any city or neighbourhood had been directed to some indigenous object of devotion, this at once took the highest place, and the Lady-Chapel, if any there were, was thrust down to a less honourable position. Of this arrangement, the most notable instances in England are, or were (for in many cases the very sites have perished), the shrines of St. Alban in Hertfordshire, St. Edmund at Bury, St. Edward in Westminster Abbey, St. Cuthbert at Durham, and St. Etheldreda at Ely.”--(A. P. S.)

_Sedilia_, seats used by the priest, deacon and sub-deacon during the pauses in the mass, are generally cut into the south walls of churches, separated by shafts or species of mullions and surmounted by canopies, pinnacles or other elaborate adornments. The _piscina_ and _aumbry_ are sometimes attached to them.

The _piscina_ is a hollowed out niche with drain to carry away the water used in the ablutions during mass. After the Thirteenth Century there is scarcely an altar in England without one. Sometimes the _piscina_ is in the form of a double niche.

Beneath the cathedral there is often a crypt--in reality a second church, often of great size.

“We may be tempted to ask, what is the purpose of a crypt? Some have said that it was merely meant to give dignity to the church, or to avoid the damp. It appears, however, to be a custom taken from the very early Christian churches at Rome, which were in many cases built over the tomb of a martyr, and had therefore a lower and an upper church. Indeed if we imagine the central portion of the choir steps removed so that the nave floor might extend without interruption to the crypt, and a clear view of the crypt be open to the nave, we should have an arrangement precisely similar to that of several Italian churches, notably that of San Zenone, at Verona.”--(F. and R.)

As a rule, the monastic buildings, refectory, dormitory, infirmary, etc., were built on the south side, and here were also the cloisters, those pleasant walks and seats for exercise and recreation surrounding a peaceful quadrangle. The slype, or passage on the east side, led to the monks’ cemetery.

In the chapter-house the monks transacted their business.

The chapter-house, often one of the richest and most beautiful portions of the cathedral, may be of any form. Those of Canterbury, Exeter, Chester and Gloucester are oblong; those of Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln, York and Westminster are octagonal; and that of Worcester is circular. At Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln and Worcester a single massive shaft supports the vault.

In examining a cathedral we must remember that many changes have taken place since the first stone was laid. If the monks were fortunate enough to have a full treasury, they kept up with the architectural styles. They would pull down the old nave, or choir, or transepts, and erect new buildings, lower the pitch of the roof, add a new porch or door, or insert new windows in the ancient walls. Fires were frequent and lightning and winds often played havoc with towers and spires. Such manifestations of the displeasure of the elements or saints necessitated rebuilding; and, as a rule, this rebuilding was undertaken in the latest fashion. Therefore, we find in most cathedrals specimens of many styles of architecture.

“As we see our cathedrals now, the view that meets us differs much from that which would have greeted us in mediæval times. Then all was ablaze with colours. Through the beautiful ancient glass the light gleamed on tints of gorgeous hues, and rich tapestries and hangings, on walls bedight with paintings, and every monument, pier and capital were aglow with coloured decorations. We have lost much, but still much remains. At the Reformation the avaricious courtiers of Henry VIII. plundered our sacred shrines, and carried off under the plea of banishing superstition vast stores of costly plate and jewels, tapestry and hangings. In the Civil War time riotous, fanatical soldiers wrought havoc everywhere, hacking beautifully-carved tombs and canopies, destroying brasses, and mutilating all that they could find. Ages of neglect have also left their marks upon our churches; and above all the hand of the ignorant and injudicious ‘restorer’ has fallen heavily on these legacies of Gothic art, destroying much that was of singular beauty, and replacing it by the miserable productions of early Nineteenth Century fabrication.”--(P. H. D.)

And now, in order to make our visits more enjoyable, let us refresh our memories with a slight _résumé_ of the four leading styles of English Architecture.

The Pointed Arch appeared almost simultaneously in all the civilized countries of Europe. It was probably discovered by the Crusaders in the Holy Land and brought home by them. None of its charming and beautiful accessories, however, accompanied it; the graceful clusters of pillars, the tracery and mullions were to be developed by the Europeans. One of the first to use the word _Gothic_ to define Pointed Architecture was Sir Henry Wotton; and it seems that the word was finally determined as a definition by Sir Christopher Wren. An English critic says:

“The pointed arch was a graft on the Romanesque, Lombard and Byzantine architecture of Europe, just as the circular arch of the Romans had been on the columnar ordinances of the Greeks; but with a widely different result. The amalgamation in the latter case destroyed the beauty of both the stock and the scion; while in the former the stock lent itself to the modifying influence of its parasitical nursling, gradually gave up its heavy, dull and cheerless forms, and was eventually lost in its beautiful offspring, as the unlovely caterpillar is in the gay and graceful butterfly.”

Although Pointed or Gothic Architecture developed with almost equal vigour in every country of Europe, it reached its greatest perfection in France. Many of the finest earliest buildings in England were, to a great extent, French in their origin, or development; but, in the course of time, English Gothic Architecture became very original. In this country

“Gothic architecture seems to have attained its ultimate perfection in the Fourteenth Century, at which period everything belonging to it was conceived and executed in a free and bold spirit, all the forms were graceful and natural, and all the details of foliage and other sculptures were copied from living types, with a skill and truth of drawing which has never been surpassed. Conventional forms were in a great measure abandoned, and it seems to have been rightly and truly considered that the fittest monuments for the House of God were faithful copies of His works; and so long as this principle continued to be acted on, so long did Gothic architecture remain pure. But in the succeeding century, under the later Henrys and Edwards, a gradual decline took place: everything was moulded to suit a preconceived idea, the foliage lost its freshness, and was moulded into something of a rectangular form; the arches were depressed, the windows lowered, the flowing curves of the tracery converted into straight lines, panelling profusely used, and the square form everywhere introduced; until at length the prevalence of the horizontal line led easily and naturally to the Renaissance of the classic styles, though in an impure and much degraded form. The mixture of the two styles first appears in the time of Henry VII.,--a period in which (though remarkable for the beauty and delicacy of its details) the grand conceptions of form and proportion of the previous century seem to have been lost. Heaviness or clumsiness of form, combined with exquisite beauty of detail, are the characteristics of this era.”--(J. H. P.)

The styles are generally classified as follows: I. Norman, or Romanesque; II. Early English; III. Decorated; IV. Perpendicular.

“Soon after the Norman Conquest a great change took place in the art of building in England. On consulting the history of our cathedral churches, we find that in almost every instance the church was rebuilt from its foundations by the first Norman bishop, either on the same site or on a new one; sometimes, as at Norwich and Peterborough, the cathedral was removed to a new town altogether, and built on a spot where there was no church before; in other cases, as at Winchester, the new church was built near the old one, which was not pulled down until after the relics had been translated with great pomp from the old church to the new. In other instances, as in York and Canterbury, the new church was erected on the site of the old one, which was pulled down piecemeal as the new work progressed. These new churches were in all cases on a much larger and more magnificent scale than the old.

“Strictly speaking, the Norman is one of the Romanesque styles, which succeeded to the old Roman; but the Gothic was so completely developed from the Norman that it is impossible to draw a line of distinction between them; it is also convenient to begin with the Norman, because the earliest complete buildings that we have in this country are of the Norman period, and the designs of the Norman architects, at the end of the Eleventh Century and the beginning of the Twelfth, were on so grand a scale that many of our finest cathedrals are built on the foundations of the churches of that period, and a great part of the walls are frequently found to be really Norman in construction, although their appearance is so entirely altered that it is difficult at first to realise this; for instance, in the grand cathedral of Winchester, William of Wykeham did not rebuild it, but so entirely altered the appearance that it is now properly considered as one of the earliest examples of the English Perpendicular style, of which he was the inventor; this style is entirely confined to England; it is readily distinguished from any of the Continental styles by the _perpendicular lines_ in the tracery of the windows, and in the panelling on the walls; in all the foreign styles these lines are flowing or flame-like, and for that reason they are called Flamboyant; a few windows with tracery of that style are met with in England, but they are quite exceptions.”--(J. H. P.)

The works of this period were colossal. Peterborough was begun in 1117 and finished in 1143; the nave of Norwich was built between 1122 and 1145; Canterbury was finished in 1130; and part of Rochester in the same year.

In the time of William Rufus all the Saxon cathedrals were being rebuilt on a larger scale. From this reign date the crypt of Worcester; crypt, arches of the nave and part of the transepts of Gloucester; the choir and transepts of Durham; and the choir and transepts of Norwich.

In the reign of Henry I. the choirs of Ely, Rochester, Norwich and Canterbury were dedicated; and among the new works begun were the nave of Durham and the choir of Peterborough.

“The piers in the earlier period are either square solid masses of masonry, or recessed in the angles in the same manner as the arches, or they are plain, round massive pillars, with frequently only an impost of very simple character, but often with capitals.

“The capitals in early work are either plain, cubical masses with the lower angles rounded off, forming a sort of rude cushion shape, as at Winchester, or they have a sort of rude volute, apparently in imitation of the Ionic, cut upon the angles; and in the centre of each face a plain square block in the form of the Tau cross is left projecting, as if to be afterwards carved. The scalloped capital belongs to rather a later period than the plain cushion or the rude Ionic, and does not occur before the time of Henry I. This form of capital was perhaps the most common of all in the first half of the Twelfth Century, and continued in use to the end of the Norman style. The capitals were frequently carved at a period subsequent to their erection, as in the crypt at Canterbury, where some of the capitals are finished, others half-finished, with two sides blank and others not carved at all. In later Norman work the capitals are frequently ornamented with foliage, animals, groups of figures, etc., in endless variety. The abacus throughout the style is the most characteristic member, and will frequently distinguish a Norman capital when other parts are doubtful.

“Norman ornaments are of endless variety; the most common is the chevron, or zigzag, and this is used more and more abundantly as the work gets later; it is found at all periods even in Roman work of the Third Century and probably earlier, but in all early work it is used sparingly, and the profusion with which it is used in late work is one of the most ready marks by which to distinguish that the work is late. The sunk star is a very favourite ornament throughout the style; it occurs on the abacus of the capitals in the chapel of the White Tower, London, and it seems to have been the forerunner of the tooth-ornament. The billet is used in the early part of Peterborough, but discontinued in the later work, and does not often occur in late work. It is sometimes square, more frequently rounded. The beak-head, the cat’s-head, the small medallions with figures and the signs of the zodiac, all belong to the later Norman period. In the later Norman mouldings a mixture of Byzantine character is seen on the ornaments as at Durham. It has also been observed that in the sculpture of the period of the late Norman style there is frequently a certain mixture of the Byzantine Greek character brought home from the East by the Crusaders, who had returned. This is also one of the characteristics of the period of the Transition.”--(J. H. P.)